5 Ways College Prep and AP Classes Help High School Students Reach Academic, Career & Military Goals

You don’t want to wake up ten years from now and think, “I hate my job. I wish I studied harder in high school. I could have gone further in life.” According to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, you’re right: you can go further. College prep classes help every student, no matter what they want to do for a living. Hard work in high school helps you for decades to come.

How College Prep Benefits Students

College Prep Teaches Critical Thinking. You learn to solve problems, and that’s important whether you go to college, the workforce, or the military.

College Prep Makes You More Likely to Get Promoted. All that extra reading, pressure, and test taking make you a good candidate for supervisor. Companies like employees who can think on their feet and handle stressful situations – like the SATs, standardized tests, and chemistry finals.

Get Better Military Jobs. There’s no guarantee when it comes to the military (after all, it marches to the beat of its own drummer), but students who take tough AP and Honors classes have a better chance of landing high-tech and engineering jobs in the Armed Forces.

Students Learn Their Strengths. Regular classes can teach you your strengths and weaknesses, but college prep courses magnify them. They force you to overcome your biggest problem areas.

Surrounded by Ambition. Even if you’re not interested in college, you’ll be surrounded by students who are. Their ambition may rub off on you. College prep can make your more competitive, a quality you’ll need to get ahead.

Turn College Prep Into Career Prep

It’s fair to ask, “But I want to go into construction or be a chef. How can college prep help me?” What if you find you don’t like that job and think college can help you get a better one? What if you start your own business but think you need a few college-level classes to run it right?

You need to prepare for the unexpected. What if you lose your job and decide to take advantage of government money to improve your education? You will quickly appreciate those AP courses you took in high school.

Planning for college now can help you no matter when you wind up going. And if you don’t ever go to college, you may still find yourself happier with how far you’ve gotten in your career thanks to college prep.

Because done right, college prep is career prep, and you should be doing both.